The government is moving to train professional managers to support the growth and listing of companies in research and development special zones.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Innopolis Foundation held a launch ceremony for the 2026 Innopolis Scale-up Expert L.E.A.D programme at the Daedeok Techbiz Center and will run a 16-week training course, they said on Wednesday.

Innopolis L.E.A.D. is a professional manager training programme that stands for Listing, Expert C-Level, Advancement and Deep-tech Innovation.

The programme was set up to address a lack of management expertise that research and development special zone companies face during IPO preparation. It also reflects that relevant professional talent is concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, making it difficult for regional companies to secure the personnel they need.

A first cohort of 26 trainees was selected, including company executives with high potential to contribute to the development of Daedeok Innopolis, technology commercialisation experts and officials from government-funded research institutes. The course will be run in cooperation with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Technology Management Innovation Center. It will cover corporate growth strategies, fundraising, technology commercialisation, corporate value enhancement and exit strategies.

The ministry and the foundation plan to strengthen practical capabilities needed in corporate growth by offering hands-on lectures from the Korea Exchange, securities firms and experts in accounting and law. The programme will also use analysis and discussions based on real corporate cases, as well as one-on-one mentoring.

Kim Sung-soo (김성수), director general for R&D policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said the programme would be expanded to other research and development special zones based on its outcomes to support the growth and scale-up of regional deep-tech companies.